In general, mobile communication systems have been developed to provide communication services while guaranteeing user mobility. Thanks to rapid technical advancement, mobile communication systems are capable of providing not only voice communication services but also high-speed data communication services.
In recent years, the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) has developed specifications for Long Term Evolution (LTE) as a next generation mobile communication system. LTE aims to realize high-speed packet based communication supporting a maximum data rate of about 100 Mbps exceeding existing data rates. To achieve this, various approaches have been considered, such as reducing the number of nodes on a communication path through simplification of the network architecture and bringing wireless protocols as close as possible to wireless channels.
Meanwhile, recent advances in Internet and mobile communication technology have enabled transmission of a variety of content through multimedia mobile communication systems. Users wish to receive various types of multimedia content. Multimedia content may include videos, songs, photographs, web browsing, instant messaging and the like. In multimedia content services, shorter transmission delay ensures better service quality to users.
However, when multiple users request the same content, the content is separately and repeatedly transmitted to the users through the TCP/IP protocol and Internet. This type of transmission may cause waste of resources of the mobile communication system and increase content delivery latency.